| The Nativity | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Religiousdrama |
| Written by | Tony Jordan |
| Directed by | Coky Giedroyc |
| Starring | |
| Composer | Jonathan Goldsmith |
| Country of origin | |
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Ruth Kenley-Letts |
| Running time | 30 minutes (approx.) |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | 20 December (2010-12-20) – 23 December 2010 (2010-12-23) |
| Related | |
| The Passion | |
The Nativity is a 2010 British four-part drama television series. The series is a re-telling of theNativity of Jesus and was broadcast onBBC One andBBC HD across four days, starting on 20 December 2010. It was rebroadcast in two hour-long parts on the mornings of 24 and 25 December 2011 and across four days starting on 19 December 2016.
The series starsTatiana Maslany asMary;Andrew Buchan asJoseph;Neil Dudgeon asJoachim;Claudie Blakley asAnna;Peter Capaldi asBalthasar; andJohn Lynch asGabriel.
Tony Jordan started writing the script in 2007. At the time, he did not believe in the Nativity story, but said that since writingThe Nativity, his opinion changed. He was asked to produce the series after discussing new projects withBBC Wales inCardiff, but his meeting got mixed up with another, where they wanted to create a follow-up toThe Passion. Jordan was asked what he would do with the Nativity and he pitched what he called a "ridiculous notion" of a story centred on the Inn in Bethlehem, which he compared to the BBC 1980s sitcom'Allo 'Allo!. Jordan forgot about the idea but received a telephone call from the BBC a week later asking him to produce a script.[1]
Filming lasted a month and took place inOuarzazate,Morocco.[2] Capaldi, Shepherd and Abili almost missed filming due toair travel disruption after the2010 eruptions ofEyjafjallajökull in Iceland.[3]
The first episode was watched by 5.21 million viewers, an audience share of 20.3%.[4]
Sam Wollaston ofThe Guardian praised the series, saying: "[W]hat is nice about this new telling of an old story: it will resonate, and it's relevant. It's very human, too, because that's what it's about, the characters and what happens to them and between them, rather than the message. In short, it's not preachy, and that's a relief."[5]
